


The sharpshooter and his engineer on holiday

by Sarai



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Flirting, Jesper Fahey-centric, Jesper and Wylan are happy and in love, M/M, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Vacation, Wylan Van Eck-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29750520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarai/pseuds/Sarai
Summary: Jesper, Wylan, and Marya take a holiday to the Hendriks lake house. Things might be a little slow, but Jesper can't imagine a better companion than his brilliant, grease-streaked boyfriend.Wylan, however, would disagree. Jesper thinks his boyfriend is the best? Hah! He should see Wylan's boyfriend! He's got a smile brighter than sunshine.Jesper and Wylan are very happy, a little silly, and extremely in love.
Relationships: Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30
Collections: Week #5: Starlight Starbright





	1. Wylan's Morning

Shortly after their near-disastrous showdown in the Church of Barter, Jesper woke up one morning on a soft bed, between clean sheets, to a vase of fresh tulips from one ridiculously sweet young mercher… and he thought, _I could get used to this life._

He had gotten used to that life.

He had gotten used to waking up in comfortable beds. On this particularly fine morning, he woke to chipper birdsong as well. He took a long moment with it, stretching, letting his body remember wakefulness. The bed was empty beside him, but Jesper had grown accustomed to that the past… week? Week and a bit?

Much as he would have liked to take his time in waking, he had no choice but to get up and moving. 

Well, he had a choice. But he was hungry and he smelled bacon. 

He found Marya at the breakfast table, a novel and a plate of mostly-eaten food in front of her. She had come back to herself since Wylan brought her home from Saint Hilde’s. It was a long, arduous climb with an awful lot of setbacks, but Wylan was devoted and Marya… Jesper wouldn’t say she was her old self. For one thing, he hadn’t known the old Marya. More than that, she was no more the mother Wylan remembered than he was the eight-year-old boy she left behind. They had to love each other for who they were today. 

Marya today was a woman who carried herself like a queen but smiled like a grandma. (She wouldn’t mind grandchildren, she had mentioned once, making Wylan choke and turn a glorious vermilion.) Gray streaked her red-gold curls, but her hair was long again.

“’Morning, Marya!” Jesper kissed her papery cheek before dropping into a chair and reaching for a piece of toast. There was tea, too, and the aromatically promised bacon.

“Good morning, Jesper. Did you sleep well?”

 _Your son kept me up to the wee hours. So demanding._ His mind automatically jumped to the least appropriate response. 

What he said was, “Yes, thanks,” as he buttered his toast. He slathered jam on next—the life, really!

“Wylan’s in the carriage house.”

Jesper snorted around a mouthful of jammy toast. He swallowed it with a gulp of tea.

“You don’t say.”

Marya laughed. 

“What are your plans today? No, wait, don’t tell me—painting.”

“However did you guess?”

“I’m psychic.”

They shared a laugh at that. Marya had painted every day since they arrived. She was likely only lingering over breakfast because she was waiting for the light to be how she liked it. 

Jesper and Marya sat together in silence for a while, and Jesper had nearly finished his breakfast when the doorbell rang. 

“I’ll get it!”

Who was ringing the bell out here? Jesper stroked his revolvers as he headed to answer it. Could be trouble…

Or it could be a skinny boy who couldn’t be more than sixteen, his elbows sharp in a threadbare jacket, hair sticking out from his cap. It was probably for the best Jesper hadn’t drawn a weapon ‘just in case’.

“Package for Councilman Van Eck,” the boy announced.

Jesper took the package and looked it over. He didn’t know what Wylan had on order—something bulky enough that Jesper held the box with both hands, though fairly light. Marya must have helped him with the forms.

“Came all the way out here, huh?” Jesper asked.

The boy nodded. 

“Come in and wait a minute. Water?”

“Um—yes, please. Thank you, sir.”

Jesper returned to the breakfast table, where he showed the box to Marya—“Another piece for Wy’s new toy.”—then poured a glass of water and wrapped a piece of toast and a couple pieces of bacon in a napkin. They had a million of these things. What was one fewer? 

He sent the delivery lad on his way, well hydrated, with a snack for the road and a hundred kruge note for a tip. This, Jesper knew, was what Wylan would have done had he been present to receive the package himself. Since he wasn’t, Jesper had the fun of watching the joyful bewilderment on the face of a boy who had probably never held a note of that denomination before in his life. Certainly never held one.

When he went to retrieve the package again, Marya had placed a wrapped-up snack on top of it.

“If you would remind him to eat something? Tell him he’s upsetting me. That should suffice.”

“Is he?” Not that Jesper disagreed. They were all enjoying this trip and he loved seeing Wylan so happy, but the mercher did on occasion get so wrapped up in his project that he forgot to look after himself.

Marya thought for a moment. “Exasperation is a form of upset.”

Jesper laughed. 

“I’ll tell him,” he promised. He gathered up the package, Marya’s food parcel balanced on top, and made his way to the old carriage house. Well—“old”. Everything was old at the lake house, but specifying made it feel somehow haunted. And that was fun.

The day was shaping up to be a beautiful one, so Jesper took the long route. It was early summer. Ketterdam would be smoggy and fetid; the farms and factories worked up a sweating rank odor in the heat. Jesper didn’t miss that part of the city. The countryside being so green and blooming made him think of the farm. Of weeding. It was always weeding in summer, but his da had done well enough of late to hire someone to help—it eased something in him, knowing his da wasn’t alone.

Even if Jesper hadn’t known the way to the carriage house, he would have found it easily. He only had to follow the scent of oil and, as he came closer, the sound of muttering.

“Wylan?” Jesper peered in, his eyes adjusting to the shady space. The doors were thrown open and cast plenty of light, but it was nothing compared to the bright deluge outside. 

There was a carriage here—just not the type the house was built for. It was a horseless carriage, currently half-stripped with its guts on display where its nose protruded out beyond the windscreen. The whole thing sat up on thick wheels. The spokes of the wheels and the cap over the engine were painted an impossible red, a color Jesper created—no one but a Fabrikator could make anything so red. The brass fittings on the lanterns gleamed. 

As much as Jesper enjoyed horseless carriages—and he did!—he hadn’t taken to them as Wylan had. The merch was bent double, tinkering in the machinery, with a piece of it set aside on a bed of cardboard.

Jesper cleared aside a few of Wylan’s tools, making space for the package. His announcement had apparently not been heard. Now that his eyes had adjusted, he took a moment to appreciate the view—quite a lot of Wylan was buried in metal, but his backside was most certainly not. Now, how to get his attention? A pinch was definitely an option…

“Wylan,” Jesper said, a little more loudly. 

Wylan drew up out of the carriage’s innards and, Saints, he was even more gorgeous this way—a mess, but a gorgeous mess, a pair of goggles strapped over his eyes and an additional magnifying lens that made his eyes look huge and buggy. Dirt and grease streaked his face. He wasn’t wearing a proper shirt, only the long-past-salvageable undershirt that was washed with the rags. He blinked, trying to make sense of things with those lenses on.

Chuckling softly, Jesper stepped forward and pushed Wylan’s goggles up to his forehead.

Wylan grinned and stepped forward to kiss him, and it about broke Jesper’s heart to stop him. But…

“Wipe the grime off your lips first, huh?”

“Oh—right—”

As Wylan went to wash up, Jesper called, “Might as well get your hands, too. I promised Marya you’d have something to eat.”

Wylan scrubbed his hands with what Jesper could only call sandy goop; it looked a mess, but stripped grease smears very effectively. Wylan even pressed his lips together and sandy-gooped his face clean. Jesper leaned around him to turn on the spigot over the basin, and Wylan rinsed himself off. Smudges marked his cheeks, one reaching up to his forehead, disappearing under the goggles.

It was adorable. 

“How’s that?”

“Much better. That sand is rough on your lips, though.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, they look a little sore.”

“Do they?”

“Mm.”

“You could kiss it better.”

“Yeah…”

Jesper kissed Wylan’s lips, gently at first—they really did look sore. When Wylan didn’t wince or pull away, Jesper kissed him again, deeper, cupping the back of his head so he felt the silky curls at the nape of his neck. 

“Better?”

“So much better,” Wylan said. He leaned up to steal one more kiss. “Yeah, all better.”

Before they headed out of the carriage house, Jesper left one of his revolvers on the padded seat.

“There. My baby and your baby can have a playdate. Let’s sit outside.”

“We can’t just leave two babies unsupervised, Jes.”

Jesper laughed and nudged Wylan toward the sunshine. 

They sat outside while Wylan alternately chattered on about the newest modifications he had made to the carriage and remembered to eat something lest his mother hear of it. Though he didn’t fully understand the mechanics, Jesper loved listening to Wylan talk about his project. Something lit up inside him when he did. His eyes sparkled in a way usually only reserved for Jesper himself—and he was happy to share. It was better for both of them to have joy outside the other. Besides, even if he didn’t quite know why, Jesper was proud of his brilliant engineer—he knew Wylan was working on something ingenious. 

“…theoretically create a better alternative to the hand-crank and improve storage capacity but it will work. And I should be able to convince the Council to invest in it nationally once I have a working prototype. It’s sensible but more importantly, the more we rely on Shu oil, the more vulnerable we are,” Wylan concluded, pink-cheeked from a too-lengthy lecture. 

“Eat something,” Jesper reminded him, and Wylan obligingly took a bite. “Aren’t the Shu allies?”

“Mmf—” His mouth was still full. After a moment, he swallowed and said, “Yes. It’s nothing against the Shu, it’s on principle. I don’t want to depend on Shu oil any more than I want to depend on Ravkan horses or Fjerdan cod—”

“You hate cod.”

Wylan turned splotchy pink before muttering, “Not all cod.”

Jesper laughed so hard his side cramped.

“Saints, merchling!” he cried, shaking his head. “I am a terrible influence.”

“You love it.”

“I love you. Even if you do abandon me to come out here and tinker. I used to be enough for you,” he said, sighing and clutching at his chest.

Wylan laughed, so Jesper raised the drama of it, gasping and bringing the back of his hand to his forehead in a mock-swoon.

“Anyway, what’s this about ending trade?”

“It’s not ending trade, it’s just… imagine something happened. A horrible flood or a fire, or, Ghezen forfend, a war—it’s fine to want trade, but we shouldn’t need it to survive.”

“Thus your solar batteries.”

“Thus my solar batteries,” Wylan agreed. “Imagine if we could convert the factories—I’ll do it, I think, when I can. I know my design isn’t perfect…” And he was off again, talking over his new energy capture design. 

Jesper gave him a few minutes before nudging him and indicating his breakfast. He was not going to tell Marya her son was ignoring her wishes!

Suddenly, Wylan cried, “I’m sorry! Jes, I’ve been talking nonstop about myself! How was your morning?”

“I’ve only been up for five minutes,” Jesper exaggerated. “It’s been a nice five minutes, though. Had a nice breakfast and then watched this incredibly cute guy talk about how brilliant my boyfriend is.”

Wylan liked to have a project to work on. Jesper didn’t need that. He was perfectly happy to go at an easy pace, read a novel, shoot the leaves off trees… he did not want a structured vacation. How was it a break if he had a to-do list?

“Let’s see what’s in that package!” he said, as Wylan popped the last bite of breakfast into his mouth.

Wylan still had his mouth full as he hopped to his feet and they headed back into the carriage house together. The package sat on the worktable, where Jesper had left it. He didn’t know what it was—another piece for the carriage, surely.

Wylan tore away the brown paper wrapping, then opened a cardboard box to reveal brown paper wrapped around two pieces. The first was a horn, bulb on one end and a round twist in the pipe.

Jesper squeezed the bulb.

Of course he did.

The sound was mostly loud, a little muffled and just a bit rude where it ruffled the brown paper in which it was still halfway wrapped. 

Wylan laughed. “I was going to ask which you preferred.”

The other item was a bell set in a brass frame. Jesper picked it up.

“Just to be certain,” he said, giving it a ring. The bell was… fine. There was something far more satisfying about the horn. All told, they probably produced about the same amount of sound, but the bell was slow and steady and chiming. The horn was… well, it was more fun, all the force of the noise compressed into one quick burst. 

“The horn,” Jesper said. Definitely the horn.

“The horn,” Wylan repeated with a nod, then took the piece over to the carriage.

Jesper flicked his nail against the bell for good measure. He retrieved his revolver from the carriage seat and hopped on instead, scooting over to position himself behind the wheel. 

“So when do I get to take her for a whirl?” he asked. “Gotta test the goods, Wy. You know I tell everyone in Ketterdam I’m dating the most brilliant inventor this country has ever seen, but I need the proof.”

“Jesper, take your shoes off the upholstery.”

Jesper took his shoes off the upholstery.

This was Wylan’s pet project, but they both had a hand in making it. Jesper’s Fabrikator work built the tough, lightweight metals that he hoped would make this the fastest carriage in Kerch. Wylan wanted it to be the most efficient, and, yeah, Jesper didn’t disagree. But he would like it to be the most efficient and the fastest carriage! 

“And later this afternoon. To answer your earlier question.”

“Yes!”

Jesper could wait for that!

Well… no. He couldn’t, actually. He started tapping his fingertips on the seat. Still—that afternoon… not so long, really!


	2. Jesper's Afternoon

Wylan woke shortly before dawn that morning. As he lay there allowing his eyes to adjust, he heard Jesper’s voice in his head: _is there anything you don’t do shortly?_ He heard Jesper outside his thoughts as well, not sleeping but gently rumbling snores. Jesper remained deeply asleep. His arm lay hot and heavy across Wylan’s chest.

He couldn’t tell exactly when he woke, because what could make for a more wonderful dream? Wylan had everything. Jesper and Marya were healthy and happy. They had everything they needed and then some. How was he meant to know where dreams ended and reality began when he was living so wonderful a life it could only feel like a dream?

And at the center, of course, was Jesper. Wonderful, brilliant, gorgeous Jesper, who loved him, who Wylan loved in return. 

So was it any wonder that Wylan could think of only one thing he wanted today, because he knew it would make Jesper smile? He slipped out from beneath Jesper’s arm. His chest fairly ached at the lost warmth, but it had to be done. Jesper muttered in his sleep and resettled; Wylan pulled the covers up over him and kissed his cheek. He dressed quietly and left Jesper sleeping.

The world was quiet and dim outside. Sprays of orange at the horizon just chased off the last of the gray-blue dark. The last few stars shone down at him. There were so many stars. With all the smog and light in the city, far fewer made their way into Ketterdam. 

Of course, a few stars weren’t enough to work by. In the carriage house, Wylan turned on the light, the faint buzz settling over him. He was close to finished with his modifications—wouldn’t it be something to surprise Jesper with this? That thought filled his mind and kept a distant smile on his face as he worked. He imagined sitting down to breakfast and announcing it was done. Ready. They were ready to drive.

He barely realized any time had passed before Jesper startled him out of his fuzzy mechanical mindset. 

Wylan was a little disappointed, much as he tried to hide it. Surprising Jesper that morning would have been amazing! But… getting the carriage moving at all would be good. It wasn’t just any automobile carriage, after all! This was an automobile carriage propelled by a non-fuel-based engine of Wylan’s own design! 

Jesper didn’t seem to mind, but this was still something Wylan wanted to give him. He could just imagine how Jesper would smile…

For a brief moment, Wylan considered giving the carriage a test drive on his own. Everything was reassembled now, the messy fingerprints wiped from the gleaming red paint job, and Wylan considered cranking the engine. It just didn’t feel right without Jesper, though. Even if this turned out to be a failure, Wylan shouldn’t exclude Jesper, who had helped him with the designed, listened to him talk for what felt like hours and overall been very understanding about losing his boyfriend to hours of tinkering.

That did not, however, mean Wylan could wait.

He just remembered to push his goggles up before he bolted from the carriage house. The engine was ready! (To test, at least.) He couldn’t wait to find Jesper and tell him! Jesper was going to be so thrilled. He loved automobile carriages—everyone went around calling them ‘horseless’, and that was true, but Wylan thought ‘automobile’ described them better. What mattered was what a thing was, not what it wasn’t. And what they were, best of all, was an absolute delight to Jesper.

“Jes!”

The Lake House was more than simply soft beds and the carriage house to its side, of course. There was… well… a whole house! And a sprawling green lawn that was a wonderful place to spend a summer afternoon. Marya was there, her easel set up. Jesper was sprawled on the grass with a manuscript open in front of him. Something from the publishing house, Wylan didn’t doubt. Of all the sprawling pieces of the Van Eck empire, that had been Jesper’s favorite. He could claim all he liked that his favorite thing was risk. Wylan knew Jesper really loved stories best.

Well, stories and Wylan. It was a tie.

“Jes!” Wylan repeated, half-breathless with excitement. “Jes, it’s ready, I…” He trailed off, realizing Jesper and Marya had both turned their full attention to him—and that he hadn’t put his shirt on before leaving the carriage house. Luckily there was no one else around to see a Councilman standing there with his arms bare!

Blushing, Wylan crossed his arms over his chest. 

“I’m so sorry, Mama, I didn’t think—”

Marya waved a hand. “I was there when you were born, Wylan, I’ve seen you in less.”

That thought was even worse! Wylan felt prickles of heat as he went crimson. He knew she was there when he was born, but… but…

Jesper pushed himself to his feet. 

“Your distracting nakedness aside,” he drawled, “did I hear that the carriage is ready?”

Wylan nodded and Jesper’s face broke into that dazzling grin that made Wylan’s heart swell. (Which would help it move all that blood from his scalding blush.) 

Jesper whooped. “It’s time!” he cried. “Yes—let’s go. I can’t wait, I simply can’t, it would be unfair to make me even try—it would be rude, Wylan.”

Wylan laughed. “I’d kiss you, but…”

“Ah, you can kiss me later! I’ll hold you to that. Come on.”

As they headed back to the carriage house, Wylan warm from proximity to Jesper’s joyful glow, Jesper rested a hand on the small of Wylan’s back.

“Jes!”

“Everything else is a mess!”

Well… he wasn’t wrong.

In the carriage house, Wylan pulled off his stained undershirt and scrubbed up with the special abrasive soap he used to strip away the worst messes. It let his skin tender and pink, but it left his skin clean, too, and that was the most important thing. He couldn’t expect Jesper to wait much longer! He was already behind the wheel as Wylan buttoned on his shirt. 

“So, how do I drive this beauty?”

“Same as a regular one—I’ll crank the engine!”

Wylan left his waistcoat half-buttoned—he was always a mess when he worked with these machines, but he knew that and kept a spare set of clothes on hand. Remembering to wear that set of clothes, however…

He bent by the front of the carriage. Another modification he hoped to make one day was a better way to start the engine, something that allowed willowy boys as he had once been to start an automobile carriage easily. Wylan wouldn’t exactly call himself strong now, but at fifteen he wasn’t certain he would have had the strength to crank a carriage’s engine.

He did now, something he proved as he gave it a few quick rounds.

“No one’s got hands like you for a crank,” Jesper said.

Wylan blushed. “Stop that!”

“Mm, work it—”

“Jesper, my mother might hear you!” Wylan scolded. 

Luckily at that moment the engine sputtered to life, then settled into a throaty hum. Wylan grinned and hurried to climb aboard.

“I think Marya would like to know her son’s talents are appreciated.”

“Tell her what a great engineer I am.”

“If you insist,” Jesper said.

The carriage moved forward with a jolt at first, rattling them both on the padded seat, then began to move steadily, rolling them out of the carriage house. Jesper took the first turn wide. One of the wheels thumped from the path and rattled the carriage as it rolled along the grass—but Jesper right them, laughing as he did. Wylan didn’t love the more ‘adventurous’ parts of the drive. He did love that smile, though, and the light in Jesper’s eyes. He was painfully beautiful when he was so happy, and it was a pain Wylan wanted to bask in every day for the rest of his life.

Jesper turned to grin at Wylan. Wylan grinned back.

They didn’t go far, only around the wide driveway in front of the house, waving at Marya as they went. She waved back. 

After the second round of the driveway, Jesper headed down the road. It would take them all the way to Ketterdam if they kept on it long enough, but for now, Wylan knew what Jesper wanted. As Jesper pushed to a higher gear, Wylan let his eyes close, listening to the steady noise of the engine. That was _his_ engine, his work. He made that.

He wasn’t sure how long they spent driving—maybe an hour? Jesper pushed the carriage faster and more than once left the road in moves Wylan doubted were genuine accidents. Jesper laughed way too much for that to be an ‘oops’. Perhaps, Wylan thought, some sturdier wheels and maybe additional padding on the seat—he was getting thrown around an awful lot! 

He still wanted to improve his design, but he was pleased with it so far.

When they finally returned to the carriage house, Wylan was exhilarated and strangely exhausted. He hadn’t done anything, but still felt halfway melted somehow. Those were definitely burns settling on his cheeks.

“Well?” he asked Jesper as the chugs and rattles of the engine faded. He didn’t really needed to ask, not with Jesper grinning hugely, eyes wide and sparking. He did, anyway: “What do you think?”

“I love it!” Jesper cried.

“Good. I wouldn’t want to give you a disappointing birthday present.”

“Wha—birthday present?”

Wylan smiled. It wasn’t often he caught his boyfriend by surprise.

“My birthday was two weeks ago.”

“I know.” They had cake.

“You gave me a present then.”

Wylan laughed. “I remember that, too. But it’s not surprising to get presents on your birthday. Two weeks after your birthday, it seems too soon for a ‘just because’ present, so it’s really the perfect time for—”

Jesper interrupted Wylan with a kiss that left him dizzy. 

“If I’d known it would make you react like that,” Wylan said, “I’d’ve made you an automobile carriage years ago.”

Jesper rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling as he said, “ _You_ make me react like that. But the carriage is certainly an advantage to dating the most brilliant man in Kerch.”

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapters of Rule of Wolves mention horseless carriages--I know some people don't like those sneak peek reads and hope you won't begrudge me the reference! Because when I saw that, all I could think was, Jesper would love to drive, and Wylan would love to tinker! 
> 
> And, sure, I already have a fic about the boys being happy and domestic and flirty at the lake house, but that one is about kittens and this one is about cars! Totally different fics ;)


End file.
